The preliminaries continued, and competitors were gradually eliminated until the top eight were decided.
The quarterfinal matchups were determined by drawing lots.
By Tien Shinhan's deliberate arrangement, Raditz faced him in the very first match.
"The World Martial Arts Tournament quarterfinals are now underway. In this match, Master Roshi's student Raditz will face Master Shen's student Tien Shinhan. This is sure to be an exciting bout."
"Now, let the match begin!"
The referee left the ring.
The two stood facing each other in the arena.
Tien Shinhan folded his arms, his tone still arrogant. "Kid, you've got some skill to have made it this far, but this is where your run ends."
Raditz simply watched him calmly, loosening his wrists and ankles. "Don't count your chickens, Three-Eyes. Let me see what the Crane School can really do."
"Hmph. You'll see!"
Tien Shinhan gave a low shout and sprang into action, driving a straight punch toward Raditz's face.
Raditz shifted his feet and dodged, making it look as though he'd barely gotten out of the way.
Tien Shinhan furrowed his brow and unleashed a relentless flurry of punches and kicks. His vicious attacks went straight for Raditz's vital points.
Raditz, meanwhile, seemed rather "rattled." He dodged from side to side around the ring, spending most of his time blocking and occasionally being forced to trade a few blows. He looked completely outmatched.
"What's going on with Raditz? He looks like he's having a really hard time!" Krillin said anxiously from the sidelines.
"His opponent's strong," Yamcha said gravely. "That Tien Shinhan has incredible speed and strength."
Goku, however, watched with keen interest. "His opponent's definitely good, but Raditz still hasn't gotten serious."
Master Roshi, as Jackie Chun: "That's right. The boy's testing him."
In the ring, Raditz was deliberately holding back his speed and strength, making himself seem "evenly matched" with Tien Shinhan. Though he appeared to be on the defensive, his steps never faltered, and his gaze remained calm.
"Hey, kid!" Tien Shinhan suddenly backed away, his patience wearing thin. "Stop pretending! I know you're capable of a lot more than this! Give it everything you've got!"
Raditz steadied himself. Realizing that his act had been seen through, he stopped hiding his strength and smiled. "You want me to go all out? At least for now, your punches and kicks aren't enough to impress me."
"Arrogant fool!"
Thoroughly enraged, Tien Shinhan blurred and lunged forward again, even faster than before. The air seemed to split around him.
But Raditz's figure suddenly blurred and vanished from the ring.
Afterimage Technique!
To Tien Shinhan, "Raditz" seemed to fill the entire arena, taking attacking stances from every direction.
The crowd cried out in surprise.
The referee raised his voice.
"Wow! What's this?! Raditz seems to have used some kind of incredible magic—he's everywhere!"
"That trick won't work on me!" Tien Shinhan sneered. His three eyes shifted in every direction, studying the figures scattered around the ring.
"There!" His gaze instantly locked onto an afterimage near the edge of the ring, the one with the most solid presence. He swung a swift side kick at it with all his might!
Thud!
Raditz blocked the kick and was "forced" to fight back. Their fists and feet clashed, filling the arena with a rapid succession of impacts. Under Tien Shinhan's attacks, Raditz kept moving as they fought, skillfully luring his opponent toward the edge of the ring.
"Got you!" Tien Shinhan seized an opening and threw a powerful punch straight at Raditz's chest.
A golden glint flashed in Raditz's eyes. He crossed his arms and took the punch head-on without dodging.
At that moment, Raditz's aura suddenly surged, and his arms snapped outward.
"Ha!!"
A powerful burst of energy exploded from him without warning, forming a visible ring of shockwaves!
At such close range, Tien Shinhan took the full force of the blast and was hurled out of the ring.
"What?!" Tien Shinhan cried in alarm, just as he was about to hit the ground.
At the last second, he brought his legs up and steadied himself, hovering outside the ring.
Flight Technique!
Standing at the edge of the ring, Raditz looked enlightened. The burst of energy seemed to have taken quite a bit out of him, leaving him slightly winded, but his eyes shone even brighter.
"So that's how it works." Raditz stared intently at Tien Shinhan's floating posture, sensing the energy flowing around him. He began to understand.
Shocked and furious, Tien Shinhan hovered in midair, still shaken as he looked down at Raditz. The sudden burst of energy had been far stronger than he'd expected.
Although Flight Technique had saved him from losing outright, the impact still left his chest aching.
"If you want to see what I can really do, then take a good look!" An even fiercer fighting spirit rose in Tien Shinhan's heart.
He didn't come down at once. Instead, he held the fingers of his right hand together and aimed them at Raditz in the ring.
Highly compressed energy gathered at his fingertips, giving off a faint white glow.
"Dodon Ray!!"
A beam of concentrated energy tore through the air, shooting straight toward Raditz!
The spectators below cried out.
"Look out!" Krillin shouted instinctively.
Goku's eyes lit up as he focused on Raditz's movements.
He'd seen this technique from Tao Pai Pai before, but Tien Shinhan's Dodon Ray was even stronger.
Facing the incredible energy blast, Raditz drew his hands back to his sides and held his palms together. A brilliant blue sphere formed instantly and swelled.
"Kamehame—"
"—ha!!"
An enormous torrent of blue energy erupted, several times thicker than before, and slammed precisely into the slender Dodon Ray.
"Boom!!"
The two blasts collided fiercely in midair. Their clash lasted only an instant before the Dodon Ray began to lose ground under the Kamehameha's overwhelming, sustained force, then was driven back outright.
"What?!" Tien Shinhan's pupils contracted. He dodged sharply to the side again and again.
The thick blue beam roared past his ear and exploded far away in the clouds, bursting into a dazzling fireball.
The entire arena fell silent. Then even louder cries of amazement erupted!
"Th-that Kamehameha is so powerful!" Krillin gaped in shock.
Yamcha took a deep breath, shaken. He'd known Raditz was strong, but seeing the Kamehameha's power with his own eyes still left him stunned.
"That was amazing, Raditz!" Goku was so excited he nearly jumped, his eyes burning with fighting spirit. "That's more like it! You've improved so much."
He remembered how easily he'd crushed Raditz in a sparring match a year ago. Seeing how much Raditz had grown since then filled him with excitement.
Master Roshi, standing nearby, was also a little stunned. "That Raditz, keeping quiet all this time, and then he pulls a huge surprise on me."
"Tien Shinhan's pretty good, too. It's the young people's era now," he added with a sigh.
In the stands, Bulma watched the tall young man in the ring and smiled. Then she shouted, "Come on, Raditz! Beat the other guy to a pulp!"
"Hey, hey, act a little more ladylike," Oolong said.
Tien Shinhan's face turned ashen. He was completely outmatched in both speed and strength, so a head-on fight clearly wouldn't work.
His thoughts raced. He descended to the ring and faced Raditz again.
"I have to admit, you're very strong," Tien Shinhan said gravely. "But a fight isn't just about comparing strength!"
Before he'd even finished speaking, he raised both hands to his temples. The energy inside him began to pulse violently in a peculiar way.
"Solar Flare!!"
In an instant, Tien Shinhan's entire body blazed with a blinding light, and the whole arena was engulfed in its radiance.
The spectators cried out. Caught completely off guard, everyone lost their sight and was briefly blinded.
Raditz was no exception. His vision turned into a featureless white haze.
"Now's my chance!" Tien Shinhan pressed his advantage and darted forward, charging up his right hand as he delivered a clean, powerful punch straight at Raditz's face.
But he didn't feel his fist connect with his opponent as he'd expected.
Instead, his wrist was firmly seized!
"Why?!" Tien Shinhan asked in shock. "How can you still see?"
"If you can't see, then don't rely on your senses," Raditz said calmly. "The moment you decided to attack, you gave away the path of your 'ki.'"
As he spoke, Raditz gripped Tien Shinhan's wrist with both hands, summoned his strength, and spun around, throwing him out of the ring again.
"Out you go!"
Tien Shinhan spun through the air and was hurled more than ten meters before barely managing to steady himself.
Again? He could've beaten me already.
This time, he flew even higher. Suppressing his frustration, Tien Shinhan looked down at the ring. The young man was looking up at him. Though his eyes didn't seem to have recovered yet, his posture remained steady.